Sheet filing device

ABSTRACT

A coil spring having an end inserted into a channel-shaped depressing member is rotatably mounted on a pin supported by an uprising part of a base plate, and a linear portion of a C-shaped rod swingably supported relative to the base plate is passed through the interior of the channel shaped depressing member, whereby when sheets are being clamped for filing, the coil spring is rotated around the pin in a direction to press the sheets with a corner edge of the depressing member.

United States Patent [191 Numazu et al.

[451 Sept. 16, 1975 SHEET FILING DEVICE Inventors: Ichiro Numazu, Hiratsuka; Yasuhiro Okutsu, Zama; Matsutarou Aoki, Odawara, all of Japan Assignee: Pilot Man-Nen-I-Iitsu Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo, Japan Filed: Oct. 17, 1974 Appl. No.: 515,713

821,142 5/1906 Wagoner 24/67.7 1,609,041 11/1926 Pauker 24/67 R FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 412,169 11/1945 ltaly 24/67.5 442,830 12/1948 Italy 24/67.5

Primary Examiner-Donald A. Griffin Attorney, Agent, or FirmWender0th, Lind & Ponack [5 7 ABSTRACT A coil spring having an end inserted into a channelshaped depressing member is rotatably mounted on a pin supported by an uprising part of a base plate, and a linear portion of a C-shaped rod swingably supported relative to the base plate is passed through the interior of the channel shaped depressing member, whereby when sheets are being clamped for filing, the coil spring is rotated around the pin in a direction to press the sheets with a corner edge of the depressing member.

6 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures SHEET FILING DEVICE BACKGROUND OF THEINVENTION This invention relates to filing devices for holding together sheets such as documents,'newspap'ers, magazines and the like, and more particularly to an improvement thereof wherein the possibility of the sheets thus filed dropping out of the device can be substantially eliminated with a simple construction thereof.

Heretofore, sheet filing devices of thetype comprising a depressing member vertically displaceable relative to a base plate and a spring member urging the depressing member toward the base plate have been known. In these devices, however, the sheets to be filed are presseddownward by the entire bottom surface of the depressing member so that the depressing force is distributed uniformly over the entire surface of the bottom, and the force for clamping the sheets isthereby reduced. Furthermore, the depressing member in the known filing device tends to be inclined at the time of filing sheets in a manner to form an angle between the depressingmember and the base plate, .the angle diverging toward the direction from which the sheets are to be inserted into the filing device, and such an inclination of the depressing member has frequently caused the'sheets to slip and drop out of the filing device.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION With the above described shortcomings of the known devices in view, a primary object of the present invention is to provide a sheet filing device wherein'the-depressing force of a spring member is not. distributed over the entire bottom surface of the depressing member but is concentrated into a part thereof whereby the clamping action of the filing device 'is' greatly increased.

Another object of the invention is to provide a sheet filing device wherein the depressing member is, at the time of clamping the sheets, moved downward and-also laterally inwardly along the inserting direction of the sheets into the filing device, whereby the above described tendency of the sheets to slip and drop out of the filing device at the time of filing is substantially eliminated.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a sheet filing device of the aforesaid nature which is simple in construction and economical in manufacture.

Briefly summarized, a sheet filing device according to the present invention comprises a base plate having an uprising portion, a stationary pin provided perpendicularly to the uprising portion, a C-shaped rod swingably supported relative to said base plate and having a central linear part, a channel-shaped depressing member having upper and lower flanges and a web portion connecting the two flanges, the linear part of the C-shaped rod passing between the flanges and along the inner side and in the vicinity of the web portion, the depressing member thereby being swingable around the linear part of the C-shaped rod, and spring means having an end thereof inserted into said depressing member and rotatably mounted on the pin, whereby when the spring means is rotated in a filing direction, said end of the spring means presses against the lower flange of the depressing member, while a portion thereof adjacent to the end urges the upper flange upward, and the sheets are thereby pressed by an outer edge of the depressing member toward the base plate.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of one example of the sheet filingdevice according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view along the line II--II in FIG.

1 as viewed in the arrow direction; and

FIG. 3 is a left side elevational view of the filing device shown in FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring now to the drawing, the filing device shown therein is provided with a base plate 1 one part 2 of which is bent perpendicularly upward from a bottom portion 4 of the base plate 1 along a longitudinal folding line. A lug 3 having a hole is fixed to and projects upward from the bottom portion 4, and supports one end of a pin 5 implanted at its other end perpendicularly into the uprising portion 2 of the base plate 1.

, A coil spring 8 having one end formed into a leverlike handle 6 is turnably mounted on and around the pin 5, and the other end of the coilspring 8 is bent in a direction departing from the uprising portion 2 of the base plate 1 thereby forming a depressing portion 7 of the coil spring 8.

From the right and left ends of the bottom portion 4 of the base plate 1 as viewed in FIG. 1, a pair of brackets 9'rise up at right angles with the bottom portion 4 at positions aligned in a direction parallel to the uprising portion 20f the base plate 1.

Two ends 10a of a substantially C-shaped rod 10 are supported by the pair of brackets 9 so that the rod 10 is turnable around an axis passing through the two ends 10a; The C-shaped rod 10 has a substantially linear middle part which is passed through the interior of a depressing member 11 having a channel-shaped cross section'so that the depressing member 11 is turnable around the middle portion of the rod 10. More specifically, the channel-shaped depressing member 11 is formed with a required number of catches 11a rising inwardly at the bottom or web portion 12 of the channel-shaped cross-section of the depressing member 11, and the substantially linear main body of the C-shaped rod 10 is embraced between the inner surface at the web portion 12 of the depressing member 11 and the catches 11a so that the depressing member 11 is held rotatably in a manner to be swingable around the main body of the C-shaped rod 10.

The aforementioned depressing part 7 of the coil spring 8 is inserted through the opening 14 into the interior 13 of the depressing member 11, and at the time of filing operation, the end 16 of the depressing part 7 abuts against the inner surface 17 of the lower flange of the channel-shaped depressing member 11 at a position near the bottom 12 thereof, while a part spaced apart from the end 16 of the depressing portion 7 of the coil spring 8 abuts against the inner edge 15 of the upper flange of the depressing member 11 at the opening 14 thereof, whereby the depressing member 11 is urged to rotate in a clockwise direction around the rod 10 as viewed in FIG. 2, and the outer lower corner 18 of the web portion 12 of the depressing member 11 presses the sheets 20 toward the bottom portion 4 of the base plate 1.

Y The filing device according to the present invention is further provided with a notch 19 on the side of a bracket 9 adjacent to the uprising portion 2 of the base plate 1, the lever-like handle 6 at the other end of the spring 8 being received in and held by the notch 19 after the sheets are filed as follows.

When it is desired to file sheets 20 such as documents and newspapers in the filing device, the lever-like handle 6 of the coil spring 8 is swung upward as shown in FIG. 3, thereby lifting the depressing member 11 upward and away from the bottom portion 4 of the base plate 1. The sheets 20 to be filed are then inserted between the bottom portion 4 and the depressing member 11, and the handle 6 is swung down to a position as indicated in FIGS. 1 and 2. The depressing member 11 is thus moved downward toward the bottom portion 4 of the base plate 1, thereby to press the sheets 20 against the bottom portion 4. The handle 6 is then moved laterally into the notch 19 to be held therein.

During the above-mentioned operation, the depressing member 1 l is urged to rotate in the clockwise direction around the rod as viewed in FIG. 2 by the depressing portion 7 of the coil spring 8, whereby the depressing force of the coil spring 8 is not distributed over the entire bottom surface of the depressing member 1 l but is concentrated at the outer lower corner 18 of the web portion 12 of the depressing member 11. The sheets are thus held firmly between the lower corner 18 and the bottom portion 4 of the base plate 1, and the aforementioned drawback of the sheets easily slipping and dropping out of the filing device can be substantially eliminated. Furthermore, since the depressing member 1 l is displaced vertically onto the bottom portion 4 of the base plate 1 and also slightly horizontally inwardly (or leftwardly as viewed in FIG. 2) along the inserting direction of the sheets at the time of filing of the sheets, the positioning of the sheets in the filing device can be substantially facilitated. Furthermore, the filing device according to the present invention is of a simple construction, whereby the device can be manufactured economically.

What is claimed is: i

1. A sheet filing device comprising: a base plate having an uprising portion; a stationary pin provided perpendicularly to said uprising portion; a C-shaped rod swingablysupported relative to said base plate and having a central linear part; a channel-shaped depressing member having upper and lower flanges and a web portion connecting the flanges, said linear part of the C- shaped rod passing between the flanges and along the inner side and in the vicinity of the web portion, the depressing member thereby being swingable around the linear part of the C-shaped rod; and spring means having an end thereof inserted into said depressing member and rotatably mounted on said pin, whereby when the spring means is rotated in a filing direction, said end of the spring means presses against the lower flange of the depressing member, while a portion thereof adjacent to the end of the spring means urges the upper flange upward, and the sheets are thereby pressed by an outer edge of the depressing member toward the base plate.

2. A sheet filing device as set forth in claim 1 wherein said C-shaped rod is swingably supported at both ends thereof by a pair of brackets extending upwardly from the base plate.

3. A sheet filing device as set forth in claim 1 wherein a required number of catches are further provided inside of the channel-shaped depressing member whereby the linear part of the C-shaped rod is held in its position interior of the depressing member defined by the web and said catches.

4. A sheet filing device as set forth in claim 1 wherein said C-shaped rod is supported swingably around an axis parallel to said base plate and said uprising portion of the base plate.

5. A sheet filing device as set forth in claim 1 wherein said spring means is a coil spring, and the other end thereof is formed into a handle.

6. A sheet filing device as set forth in claim 5, further comprising notch means provided in one of said brackets to hold said handle in a filing position after the completion of the filing operation. 

1. A sheet filing device comprising: a base plate having an uprising portion; a stationary pin provided perpendicularly to said uprising portion; a C-shaped rod swingably supported relative to said base plate and having a central linear part; a channel-shaped depressing member having upper and lower flanges and a web portion connecting the flanges, said linear part of the C-shaped rod passing between the flanges and along the inner side and in the vicinity of the web portion, the depressing member thereby being swingable around the linear part of the C-shaped rod; and spring means having an end thereof inserted into said depressing member and rotatably mounted on said pin, whereby when the spring means is rotated in a filing direction, said end of the spring means presses against the lower flange of the depressing member, while a portion thereof adjacent to the end of the spring means urges the upper flange upward, and the sheets are thereby pressed by an outer edge of the depressing member toward the base plate.
 2. A sheet filing device as set forth in claim 1 wherein said C-shaped rod is swingably supported at both ends thereof by a pair of brackets extending upwardly from the base plate.
 3. A sheet filing device as set forth in claim 1 wherein a required number of catches are further provided inside of the channel-shaped depressing member whereby the linear part of the C-shaped rod is held in its position interior of the depressing member defined by the web and said catches.
 4. A sheet filing device as set forth in claim 1 wherein said C-shaped rod is supported swingably around an axis parallel to said base plate and said uprising portion of the base plate.
 5. A sheet filing device as set forth in claim 1 wherein said spring means is a coil spring, and the other end thereof is formed into a handle.
 6. A sheet filing device as set forth in claim 5, further comprising notch means provided in one of said brackets to hold said handle in a filing position after the completion of the filing operation. 